Home Inspector Licensing in PA

Interesting development . . . we still have no regulation or licensing of home inspectors here in Michigan.  This will probably be a good thing, don't you think?

I am a little dumbfounded that it's just now coming up that home inspectors need a license. Interesting....

Ann,

It has been broached before, but the bill never went anywhere.  Currently, inspectors are regulated, but it is a weakly worded law with no real enforcement mechanism.

I am split on whether I think licensing is a good thing.  One one hand, it provides a minimum training and education baseline for the industry, which is good.  I personally favor setting the bar higher than the current law does.

On the other, it sets arbitrary limits for education which do not account for experience of less than 5 years in inspections, which really serves to line education vendors pockets more than anything.  My uncle is a retire union carpenter and contractor.  He has built homes from scratch and is among the more knowledgeable people I have ever met in reagards to constructioon methods and materials.  He quickly brushed up his inspecting skills, but the proposed law would make him spend thousands of doallars to sit through what amounts to 2 weeks of very basic classes (he could probably teach many segments of them).  All of that becuase someone set an arbitrary ed guideline that does not account for actual knowledge of homes and experience other than as an inspector. (in the interest of disclosure, he works with me regularly on new construction inspections and is excellent at them).

Also, consumers tend to think "licensed and insured" means equally qualified.   More educated consumers will find better inspector, but when every guy in the yellow pages has "licensed and insured" on his ad, it leads to the perception that all inspectors are created equal.

I will be interested to see how this unfolds....

Incidentally, thanks for the info, Bill!

It will be interesting but Joseph I understand that the licensing requirement might make it very difficult for some extremely qualified people to become inspectors.  From my perspective the inspector who is book-taught and license oriented may not have enough hands on experience to deal with the buyer who has never owned a home before.  Too many buyers are scared off by routine maintenance.  Now before everyone starts yelling at me....I want my buyers protected  - I want them to know and understand what they are buying - and I don't want them to have unpleasant surprises after they turn the key in their new lock BUT - home-ownership will always involve repairs and people need to be taught the importance of proper maintenance to avoid problems,  We don't need to cover up what is wrong but we also don't need to overkill what is not wrong.  A little common sense in talking to buyers can go a long way....and you won't learn how to do that in a liscensure class - you learn it with hands on experience and good solid knowledge and good common sense.

An excellent point, Nancy - I couldn't agree more.  Personal experience and information from someone who has hands-on experience can go a long way in educating buyers without scaring them unneccesarily.

I agree, that many inspectors live in exaggerated fear of litigation (some areas of the country tend to be more litigious, I suppose) and produce a report that is full of vaguery and referrals for evaluation, but short on actual education and information that can help a client understand what is a big deal and what is simple maintenance (or just a CYA point.)

Education of the client and good communication is vital, and can often create a relationship with the client that benefits everyone.  Part of this is instinctual, and part of it is learned on the job, but I don't think any of it is taught in classes.

That is not to knock education - raising the bar is always good, but some accomodation for highly skilled and experienced people with construction or building trades backgrounds would be an improvement in my opinion.